Brexit, Neutral Civil Servants And The RICS (563).

To the Business, Energy and industrial Strategy Secretary,
For Clarity - Attempt 563.

563) Brexit, Neutral Civil Servants And The RICS.

Dear Mr Clark and Sir Leigh Lewis,

Mr Farage, UK Ambassador Without Portfolio, tells us that
"No organisation (apart from UKIP) has done more to give away our democratic rights than the Foreign Office. They've been doing it for decades and I very much hope Sir Ivan is the first of many to go." As Mr Farage is an expert on these matters it must be untrue.

Mr Farage is not criticising civil servants for not being neutral but for being - in his humble opinion - pro European. He doesn't demand that civil servants be neutral but pro Brexit and in so doing undermines our civil service and our democracy.

According to George Eaton writing in the New Statesman, a neutral civil service along with an independent judiciary and a sovereign parliament are the cornerstones of the UK's unwritten constitution. However, these are being systematically and deliberately undermined by those on the right of the Leave Campaign and the establishment press barons supporting and financing it. He says, "it's ideological purity rather than expertise" that those afflicted with Brexitosis require from our civil service.
(www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2017/01/how-brexit-breaking-british-constitution)

According to Paul Goodman at conservativehome, "it's an illusion to believe that the civil service is, or has ever been, a fount of the purest neutrality."
(www.conservativehome.com/the torydiary,2017/01/why-top-civil-servants-must-back-brexit)
We agree. It seems for decades the civil service has been undermining their very own cornerstone of our unwritten constitution.

According to the Ombudsmans61percent Campaign one of the biggest culprits in undermining the neutrality of our civil service is the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors or RICS. Instead of doing the job they received their Royal Charter for and effectively regulating their cowboy Members and (Un)Regulated Firms they've been busily undermining the neutrality of our civil servants.

When nobbling Vince Cable to fix the letting industry they boasted that;
"Over the past 18 months, RICS has undertaken a great deal of influencing work (lobbying to the rest of us) - both publically and behind the scenes - to drive home the need for change to Government and policy makers. This work has included events in Parliament, briefing of MPs, Ministers and Civil Servants...contact the RICS Parliamentary Affairs team at mthorogood@rics.org."

They were indeed successful in their political influencing and engagement work and the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act was amended accordingly.

Their Ombudsman at their appointed company, Ombudsman Services:Property, now handles the business of investigating complaints about letting agents.

We asked the Civil Service for a Parliamentary Pass for our Parliamentary Affairs Team but never heard from them. So no neutrality there. There's a thing.

Q. Mr Clark, can you explain why the RICS Parliamentary Affairs Team received a pass to lobby MPs, Ministers and Civil Servants, but the Ombudsmans61percent Campaign didn't?
Q. Mr Clark, when are you going to step up, challenge the vested interests of the RICS and its appointed company Ombudsman Services:Prioperty and right the wrongs of its Ombudsman's illogical Final Decisions and its executives' maladministration?

Yours sincerely,
Steve Gilbert - The Ombudsmans61percent Campaign.